


Trending

by Frenchie (Fauks)



Category: All For the Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AU in a sense that Riko isn't dead, M/M, Poor bbies, Post-The King's Men, SHIP NAMES, allison knows a lot about shipping somehow, also, and Matt's really into the Brosten otp, because dishonor and stuff, half of the team has the flu, he's also a hermit and seculded from society, twitter stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 19:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6919606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fauks/pseuds/Frenchie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with a clickbait article:<br/>25 Themed Weddings You Wish You Were Invited To<br/>Number 3 on the list:<br/>3. Exy-Themed Wedding</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trending

**Author's Note:**

> Riko isn't dead in this oneshot. instead he was severely beaten for embarrassing/humiliating/almost ruining everything and his injuries were written off as a result of a car accident. Ichirou let him live because he thought it would be more painful to force Riko to live a life without ever being able to play exy again (which his why almost everythng in his body is shattered) than to mercifully kill him (b/c riko is that obsessed lbr)  
> other than that, this was just a silly thing i thought of after spending too much time on buzzfeed  
> if you want more, let me know. i won't mind.  
> sorry in advance for butchering the characters.

It starts with a clickbait article:

**25 Themed Weddings You Wish You Were Invited To**

Number 3 on the list:

  1. _Exy-Themed Wedding_



_California couple Sherry Lu and Stephen Harwick surprised friends and family alike with their over-the-top sport-themed wedding. The couple, having met each other at the 20xx Edgar Allen Ravens Vs. Palmetto State Foxes championship game, stayed true to their teams and divided the hall into splashes of red, black, white and orange. Lu, in her midnight black wedding dress complimented with a red sash, looked stunning walking down the aisle sporting a ‘1’ on her cheek while fiancé (now husband!) Harwick stood waiting in his white suit and orange tie, a ‘4’ to match hers._

_“Josten and Riko are their favorite players,” a Bridesmaid explained after sharing photos on her social media, “It’s also Sher’s OTP [one true pairing]. Steve didn’t seem to mind- he was all for whatever made her happy.”_

_The couple kept the theme going at their reception: entering the hall to the tune of the Raven’s fight song, racket centerpieces, a color scheme that continued to match with the two teams, exy-themed party games, an adorable dance that mimicked the rivalry between the two teams, and driving off into the sunset to the Foxes theme song. Check out the photos below!_

 

This leads to a flood of tweets directed to Nicky:

_@offnikyhemck should really read this! #ExyWedding #Neiko #MyOwnWedding lbr_

_Show neil! @offnikyhemck #Neiko #ExyWedding_

_#Neiko at an #ExyWedding! OTP!! Thoughts, @offnikyhemck?_

_What do you and the team think @offnikyhemck? #ExxyWedding #Neiko_

His response comes a few days later:

Nicky Hemmick _ (@offnikyhemck): This is literally the only way to get @kevday to go to a wedding. #ExyWedding #KevinsWedding #Don’tDoItKevin_

 

 

Neil doesn’t hear about this until an hour after _#ExyWedding_ and _#Neiko_ starts to trend.

 

 

“How is that even…?” Allison trailed off, a pink clawed nail tapping angrily against the table as she scrolled with one hand through her twitter feed. She bit her lip, brow furrowed as she angrily tapped out a response to the hashtag with her thumb.

Allison Reynolds _ (@AllisonRey): #NeikNO_

“What’s wrong?” Dan asked from her perch across the table. The Foxes were having one of their rare days off from practice thanks to a certain flu that was making its way through Fox Tower. Nearly half of the team fell victim to this epidemic (among them being Wymack, Kevin, Nicky, and Andrew) which led the Upperclassmen to flee from the tower to lower their chances of contracting the sickness. They dragged Neil with them (surprisingly at Kevin’s insistence of “he _CAN’T_ get sick!”) and were currently enjoying lunch at an unnecessarily expensive restaurant.

“Twitter. Fans. The internet. That’s what’s wrong.” She spat and dropped her phone onto the table, grabbing her glass of wine and inspecting the rim, “A couple had an Exy-themed wedding and the bride and groom dressed up as the bride’s OTP.”

“An Exy-themed wedding? How does that work?” Dan asked with a frown, “Oh wait…no, I can see it. What they probably did was-”

“My _issue_ is not _how_ they pulled the theme off, my _issue_ is with the bride’s OTP,” she clarified with an eye roll, her mood soured from what she read moments ago. She glanced towards the left wall of the restaurant, idly wondering when the boys would return from their bathroom break, “I’m all for boys kissing. Girls too, but when you’re shipping fucking Neil and _Riko_ together? Then it becomes a problem.”

“Neil and Riko?” Dan spat as a frown graced Renee’s face in response to the news. “That’s horrible and disgusting! I mean, I understand Riko and Kevin- which is equally bad, if not worse- _but Neil and Riko?!”_

“Some people like the enemies-to-lovers troupe.” Renee supplied, still frowning, “But in this case, I don’t agree.”

“Girls, we can’t tell Neil about this.”

“It’s all over the internet. How is he not gonna find out?” Allison asked with a raised eyebrow, “if not from the internet, then the press will bring it up. ‘Neiko’ is trending on twitter.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re all tweets in support of it,” Renee offered calmly, “for all we know, there are others like us who don’t agree.”

“I’d rather not sift through the comments to see if you’re right or not,” the blonde glanced towards the bathrooms again, “Back to Neil: we should just tell him now so that he’s not blindsided by it later.”

“Riko hasn’t been a trigger for him for a while. Not since he sorted things out with the Moriyamas,” Renee piped up again.

“Also, Riko’s been off the map since his ‘accident.’ He’s not likely to respond to this, knowing that Neil has a deal with the main branch. It’s the main branch, right?”

“Yes. Neil, Kevin, and Jean have a deal with Ichirou; Riko wouldn’t dare come out of hiding to provoke him.” Renee confirmed, well informed from a conversation she had with Neil shortly after the deal was made.

“Let’s just tell him then. It’s the monster’s reaction I’m more worried about, anyway.”

“Tell who what?” Matt asked, taking his seat next to Dan. Neil followed shortly after, plopping down between Dan and Allison and scooting up to the table. “Have we gotten the bill yet?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Allison grabbed her purse and started an expedition to locate her wallet, “Lunch is on me. You can pay me back with your body later by moving my shit out of the dorms.”

“No complaints here,” the Backliner agreed with a grin, casually resting his arm across the back of Dan’s chair.

“What don’t you want to tell Andrew?” Neil prodded, eyes flickering between the girls. Dan sighed in resignation as Allison threw down more than enough twenties to cover their bill.

“An article was posted about an Exy-themed wedding,” Renee spoke up first, eyes sympathetic, “the bride and groom dressed up as you and Riko.”

“Okay,” Neil acknowledged, “And you don’t want Andrew to know because it implies, what? Riko and I getting married?”

“No. We figured the monster would throw a fit about it, seeing that you two are somehow dating now.”

“Andrew won’t care. These things don’t mean anything to him,” Matt jumped in, “He’s never on twitter, either. He couldn’t care less about what the fans have to say.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. More fans are in favor of ‘Neiko’ than against it, and it’s even beating out your ‘Brosten’ ship.”

“Now _I’m_ personally offended.” Matt scoffed and looked at Neil, “We’ll make things right again, I swear it!”

“Andrew should know,” Renee drew Neil’s attention back to herself.

“Yeah, probably. These are the kinds of things reporters leech off of on slow days,” Neil nodded, “He won’t care, and he’ll say he won’t care, but I’ll tell him anyway. Also, ‘Neiko?’”

“It’s your ship name,” Allison put her sunglasses on and stood, giving the obvious hint that they were done there, “Brangelina, Brosten- They’re couple names.

“Yours and Andrews would be ‘Andriel,’” Renee gave a small smile, following Allison’s lead and standing.

“But it’s not that popular since Andrew is an asshole and a twin.”

“What’s being a twin got to do with it?” Matt asked his girlfriend.

“Babe, you would not believe the popularity of twincest on the internet.”

“Let’s get out of here. If that violinist plays the same song one more time, I will break his pretentious fiddle with my heels.”

 

 

When Kevin finds out, he drinks half a bottle of Nyquil before apologizing to Neil and passing out. Neil writes him off as being dramatic, but is grateful for the alcohol ban during his sick days. Kevin would have finished off two bottles based on his reaction to the news, and Neil was certainly in no mood to take anyone to the hospital.

After putting away the clothes Allison bought for him – as well as the matching shirts and hats Matt insisted on buying them after lunch – Neil headed towards the roof. Nicky had recovered enough to take care of their unconscious roommate in his absence, warning Neil that the medication they took for the flu was making everyone a little loopy. Loopy Andrew meant chatty Andrew.

The blond was sitting on the edge, lit cigarette in hand with a plastic bag anchored down by a water bottle to his left. He wore a heavy black sweatshirt, his hair disheveled as of he’d rolled out of bed and went straight for the roof. Neil wouldn’t be surprised if he did.

“You should be in bed,” He chastised as he approached the blond. Andrew gave him an unimpressed look when he sat next to him, keeping his cigarette out of reach from the striker, “Nicky said Aaron was at Katelyn’s to avoid getting sick.”

He remained quiet, staring at the parking lot below them as he took another drag. Neil sighed and leaned forward, “How do you feel?”

“Fine.” The answer came with a trail of smoke. Neil reached forward to take the cigarette from him only to have his hand harshly smacked away, “I said ‘fine’ not ‘recovered.’ Light your own shit.” He pulled the spare he was keeping behind his ear and threw it down between them, grabbing his lighter out of his sweatshirt pocket and tossing it into Neil’s lap.

“It’s been so long. Let’s hope I remember how to do this.”

“187%, Josten. Don’t fucking try me today.” Neil choked on his laughter as he lit up, puffing the nicotine a few times before putting the lighter in his pocket and removing the stick from his lips.

“Yes or no?” Andrew gave him a sideways glance, eyes calculating as he weighed their situation. Neil remained calm, staring back steadily with the stick burning between his fingertips.

“…Yes.” Neil scooted away from the edge and reached out for Andrew, his palm resting lightly on the side of his neck and slightly tugging the blond towards him. Andrew got the hint and obliged, easing himself down until he was on his back, resting his head on Neil’s lap. He responded ‘yes’ once again when Neil asked, and the striker started to run his fingertips through Andrew’s hair.

“You hate being sick.”

“What gave it away.” Andrew snapped back humorlessly. Neil’s careful fingers strayed briefly to his face, gently smoothing out the dark circles under his eyes and the hollows of his cheeks.

“Have you gotten any sleep?”

“Enough.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Try sleeping when Nicky’s constantly bitching about being sick in the other room.” He took one more drag from his cigarette and held the smoke in his lungs.

“Have you been staying hydrated?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions.”

“What am I saying, of course you are,” Neil continued on, unfazed by Andrew’s remark, “Kevin’s probably forcing a gallon of water down everyone’s throats every hour.”

“Kevin needs to drink a bottle of Nyquil and sleep this shit off.”

“He already has.” Andrew stayed quiet for a moment and stabbed out the butt of his cigarette before leveling Neil with a look. Neil sighed a puff of smoke before checking Andrew’s temperature on his forehead and resuming his ministrations to his hair. “Some couple had an Exy wedding.”

“Kevin’s got the right idea. I’d want to pass out too.”

“The theme was Foxes and Ravens, the bride and groom dressed as me and Riko.” Neil wasn’t looking at Andrew, but could feel his eyes boring through his head, “We’ve become very popular on the internet.”

“Clearly these people have no taste.”  He let his gaze slide away from Neil’s face and settle on the purple and orange sky, unintentionally pressing further into Neil’s touch.

“Allison said our couple name is trending. ‘Neiko.’”

“Sounds like an insect.”

“Ours would be Andriel,” Neil offered after a moment of silence. Andrew remained staring at the sky, quiet with a bored look on his face. “‘Andriel.’ How does that sound to you?”

“188.”

“Why isn’t it ‘Neidrew?’ Or ‘Minyosten?’ Or ‘Joyard?’ What’s the logic in coming up with these names?” he was answered by an arm hitting his chest, hard enough to knock the wind out of him, but not too hard.

“I’m tempted to throw you off the roof.”

“You know I’d take you with me.” Neil gasped back with a smile.

“189.” Andrew rolled to his side and sat up, grabbing the water bottle and bag before getting to his feet and leaving, “Stay in Matt’s room tonight.”

“Worried I’ll get sick?” he was answered by a half empty water bottle hitting him dead center on the back of his head.

“I can’t stand to look at you anymore,” Andrew clarified nonchalantly before disappearing down the stairwell.

 

 

Later on that night, Exy’s twitter-sphere explodes once again:

Nicky Hemmick _( @offnikyhemck): #Andriel RT @andrwminyrd: “josten is taken”_

 


End file.
